PT
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wildlife and culture
Perfect for wildlife Safari, multicultural full of life cities, really nice people.
You really can feel and see how climate changes are affecting the world.
You can really get to know kenians and reflect on how basic is not always warranted.
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Massai mara 3day safari and lake navaisha
We did a three day safari with meektrails and our guide antony.
We were picked up and dropped off at Nairobi airport all included in the price.
Our guide was antony who was excellent throughout in being flexible and getting us to see all the big amimals and the small ones aswell!
Game drives in the massai mara are an incredible experience and would recommend to anyone, especially worth getting up early for the dawn drives as this is when the animals are most active.
Lake navaisha was good but less spectacular although worth the visit if you have time. We stayed at AA lodge which was functional and reasonable but not luxurious.
NL
20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
5 day Selous safari 6-10 December 2014
I contacted Kanuth Adventures for a 5 day safari in Selous asking if there was anybody else going on safari early December as well (just a week before I wanted to go on safari). Within a few hours Kanuth himself replied that there was and since I especially was interested in seeing wild dogs he suggested to do a 5 day safari to Selous (instead a 3 or 4 day safari).
The other safari client was willing to go 5 days to Selous as well and so our safari started. Kanuth wanted a short briefing the evening before we left from Dar es Salaam and he suggested to go camping at Lake Tagalala Public Campsite to increase our chances seeing wildlife and especially wild dogs. I am personally not a big fan of camping and prefer the comfort of a lodge but Kanuth explained that staying in a lodge at the edge of the park will involve driving up and down the main road of Selous which is relatively poor of wildlife. This would mean that we would miss out being in the centre of the park during early mornings and late afternoons, the time most animals are active and so we went camping two nights and stayed our first and last night at Hippo Tented camp at the edge of the park (15 minute drive from Mtemere gate). The lodges inside the park where most game is are quite expensive and were not really an option budget wise.
The first day day we arrived in Hippo tented camp which is nicely situated outside the park facing the Rufiji river. We went on a boat safari and saw Hippo's and crocodiles from pretty close and also some nice birdlife. The second day we left arount 10:00 for our game drive in Selous and searched for wildlife all day in a very well equipped jeep (we could even charge our camera's in the jeep!). Around 17:30 we arrived at Lake Tagalala and set up our camp, just after we watched the many hippo's and crocodiles in the lake. The third day we wanted to do a very early morning game drive and got up at 05:30 for tea so we could leave at 06:00. Unfortunately the car was not cooperating and it seemed that there was something wrong with the cars fuel pump. After several attemps of fixing the car, Immanuel, our driver/guide, arranged for a back up car from Hippo tented camp which arrived around 10:00 in the morning. The back up car also brought a spare fuel pump and while we finally contiued our safari, the fundi the came with the car was left fixing it. After 5 minutes, I spotted some ears being raised by us driving by, after asking Immanuel if he could check if they we're impalas or not he replied that it might be the hyenas which visited our campsite the other night. When we went to take a closer look it turned out to be a pack of 14 wild dogs (my main reason to visit Selous)! The dogs were completely relaxed although we parked the car just next to them and they continued their mid day activities and we whatched them for a long time. In the mean time our original safari car was fixed and we could swop to that car again (which seemed to be in better condition than our back up car which was an open vehicle). The same day, Immanuel managed to spot several lions for us, one of them was planning to go for some warthogs although the alarm calls of nearby impalas give his position away and the hunt was off.
In the late afternoon we went back to our wild dog spot and they were still there! This time they were a bit more active and we saw them drinking from a mud pool, at one point one of the pack members came out of nowhere and regurgitated some food for the subadults of the pack which resulted in a lot of sqeeuking and running around of the pack which was very entertaining to witness.
The fourth day we went in search of elephants, which turned out to be pretty hard to find, but finally around mid day we managed to find them just getting out of the water when they continued feeding on the palm trees and grasses next to the small lake. We left Selous around 16:00 and just outside the reserve a large group of elephants decided to cross the road in front of us which was a nice end of our game drive safari.
The fifth day we had our walking safari at Hippo tented camp, we saw some blue monkeys and black and white tailed colobus monkeys and got some more information on the local insect life. The walking safari was not very exciting compared to the wildlife you might see during the game drives but is was a nice change, I guess walking safaris at lodges inside the park can be more of an adventure.
The cooking was done by Joseph at Hippo camp and also during our stay at the Tagalala campsite. The food he prepared was of excellent quality and I wouldn't change a thing about it. Both Joseph and Immanuel are brothers of Kanuth and together they made a really good team.
50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Tanzania was every bit as good as we had hoped.
We did not know what to expect from a Safari tour, or from Tanzania in general. For us it was a step into uncharted territory.
I’m delighted to say that the trip proved to be outstanding. Our Safari was a remarkable experience and one which I would wholeheartedly recommend. To see so much wildlife in a natural habitat was amazing.
Other than the tour we did not explore Tanzania more widely. We did stay in a hotel in Dar Es Salaam for one night at each end of our Safari. The hotel staff and the hotel itself were very good. In fact a warm and gracious welcome awaited us everywhere we visited our stayed on the mainland and then afterwards when we stayed in Zanzibar for one week. That Safari/Zanzibar combination makes for a great holiday.
Not only was the food good in most places we visited, but Swahili generosity extends to portion size as well - so you will not find yourself going hungry in Tanzania.
If you don’t visit Tanzania you are definitely missing out on a terrific experience.
NL
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Beautiful country with very nice propyleeën. Hakuna matata.
We’ve been to Zanzibar and the mainland. The mainland for Safari. Stil very beautiful but compared with 4 years ago the national park ‘nyerere’ in Selous had become very touristic and commercial.
At lunchtime all the jeeps came together at the same spot and the place was crowded. The camp where we stayed however was perfect, Nice rooms and very good food!!!!
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Great
It’s was a one day safari from Zanzibar to Selous. It’s was great. I will surely book again for my next trip to Tanzania.
DE
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Kenia is a beautiful country with friendly people
Douglas is a good Scout a driver! ....................................................................................................................
FR
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful
We had spent à very trip at Nyerere camp. It was wonderful. The guide and the driver were very kind.
CZ
50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Uganda is an interesting safari destination but its wildlife is obviously under a great pressure
I think Uganda is not for someone who suppose to have just one East Africa safari tour in his/her life.
For such people Kenya/Tanzania are better options.
Uganda is about some special animal (shoebill, chimps, gorillas, other primates, birds) and special landscape (lakes, Virunga, Ruwenzori, a margin of Congo rainforest basin) targets.
We knew that, we are strongly oriented to wildlife but anyway - Uganda was a partial (with the focus on PARTIAL) disappointment.
When I was a child the classical Ugandan national parks like Murchison Falls and Queen Elisabeth were symbols of the African wildlife beauty. They are still here but obviously under a great poaching pressure and some parts of QE (esp. Ishasha sector) are simply dying ecosystems. Without any change in NP management Uganda can expect even further decrease of safari visitors.
There were also 2 and 1/2 disappointments with the activities which were expected to be the Uganda safari highlights:
* Disappointment 1 : chimpanzee trekking in Kibale - IMO this is a cheat from definition - this is no trekking but cca an hour of standing in a dark forest and staring at a chimpanzee back high and far in the trees. I can understand it is made as it is possible but with all the marketing and for the price (a half of the gorilla permit) ... ? But I do believe that for chimps is Kibale a good place to live. Which is a good message.
* Disappointment 2 : tree-climbing lions in Ishasha/QENP - we saw just one older cub which was seriously and repeatedly injured (the older injury from poacher snares, the fresh new injury - as we were told - made by an aggressive male lion ). Add the evening/night shooting at elephants (to keep them out of the crop fields) and the fact that one half (really) of Ishasha sector is completely burnt down. A depressive place.
* 1/2 of Disappointment : gorilla trekking in Bwindi - this is no cheat (compared with chimps trekking in Kibale), it is a real rainforest trekking crowned with gorillas observation from a close distance - we spent a half an hour with a female and cca 10-month-old baby (nice) and we could hear other group members (incl. silverback) in the undergrowth nearby. But when the female with her baby was leaving we were told by our leader guide we could not to continue in observation because of a wasp nest (it was really there but it was there all the time and could be easily bypassed when trying to follow gorillas which were apparently nearby). So we finished our session after a half an hour and returned to the base where we were waiting another half an hour until the "easy group" returned (we were the "medium group"). I suppose the gorilla trekking is no cheat from definition (as I suppose the chimps trekking in Kibale is) but we simply had a hard luck with our leader guide. You didn't travel so long distance and didn't spend so much money to skip a half of the activity for such a vague reason.
But there were also very good points in our Uganda safari tour :
* shoebill in Mabamba swamps
* rhinos trekking in Ziwa RS
* Nile delta boat cruise (private small boat)
* giant forest hogs close to Buffalo lodge/QE
* Kazinga channel boat cruise (private small boat)
* Golden monkey trekking in Mgahinga NP (by far best of the primate trekking)
* Lake Mulehe birding (private small boat)
* Lake Bunyonyi birding (private small boat)
* birding !!!
And the trip organization by Africa Adventure Vacations was excellent. The tour was discussed and planned with Robert and we were guided with Ceasar and Daphne. I can highly recommend all of them, the tour organization was simply great and we would like to thank them once more at this place.
To sum up - I'm far from being sure to visit Uganda again but if we do that we'll ask Africa Adventure Vacations (Robert, Ceasar, Daphne) to organize our trip again.
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
very friendly and welcoming
country which is freindly and welcoming you feel safe travelling around